Officials: 17,000 people went to Everett FIFA Fan Zones

Published 1:30 am Friday, June 26, 2026

EVERETT — The city of Everett’s FIFA World Cup fan zones drew about 17,000 visitors over the course of the four waterfront events, according to city officials.

A local organizing committee selected Everett as a site for a fan zone back in January 2025. Officials then planned to host four fan zone events featuring a giant screen to watch matches, food vendors and booths with local organizations.

In a statement, Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin wrote that seeing the two years of planning come together for the events was “incredible.”

“These events exceeded our expectations in every way,” Franklin wrote. “We saw thousands of people from different backgrounds, cultures and communities come together to celebrate the world’s game at our beautiful Everett waterfront.”

Across the four fan zones, attendance grew with each subsequent event, according to city officials. On June 11, the World Cup opening game which took place during a workday, about 1,500 people attended to watch Mexico defeat South Korea. On June 12, 4,500 people attended for the U.S. men’s national team opener. June 18 saw 5,200 attendees; June 19 saw 5,700.

City staff, along with Everett’s emergency management department, had planned for many contingencies before the events began, wrote city spokesperson Simone Tarver. The estimated maximum capacity was about 6,000 attendees per event.

“We approached that number at most of the events,” she wrote. “Though the events were busy, people were in good spirits. There were no major public safety or emergency medical incidents at the Fan Zone.”

To get there, an Everett Transit shuttle service provided about 5,000 rides across the four events. It ran every 15 minutes between Everett Station and the fan zones.

Catherine Soper, the Port of Everett’s chief of business development and tourism, said that the watch parties brought “a ton of energy” to the port and the city, and that first-time visitors to the waterfront hoped to return in the future.

“Businesses along the waterfront, especially the restaurants, were packed before and after matches,” Soper wrote.

There are no other fan zones planned for the remainder of the World Cup, city officials said. But local businesses across the city will continue hosting watch parties and World Cup-related events through the rest of the tournament, which ends July 19. (For more information, go to visiteverett.com/fwc26).

But the success of the Everett’s watch party events helped create a “festival atmosphere” in the city, Tarver wrote.

“One of the most common comments we heard after the first events was that people wanted more opportunities like this in Everett,” she wrote.

Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.